Dear Catholic Exchange:
As I read Viewer Letters on Saturday 1/3/04, I must say you gave some terrible advice.
You said that one must obey a horribly deficient bishop. You must understand that most of us could probably spend a lifetime with one bishop. No way I'm going to spend a lifetime or even a good part of a lifetime with a bad teaching bishop that me, my children and possible grandchildren will be taught by. No way, brother. This bishop will hear from me and I WILL write to the Vatican, as I have done. In my diocese (as in too many dioceses today), we are graduating generation after generation of “ignorami” (thought you'd like that one), who are fodder for evangelical Protestants, new agers, and anti-religious bigots. I saw my old neighborhood get swallowed alive by Protestant fundamentalists all because of horrible catechesis. These bishops and yes, even cardinals MUST be brought to task and quickly.
Your brother in Christ,
AndyP/Doria2
Dear Doria:
Obeying a bishop and sitting silently while he teaches garbage or permits sin are two entirely different things. The fact is, you are bound to obey your bishop when he teaches the tradition. The only time you are free to disobey him is when he commands something immoral. But that does not mean you have to sit quietly if he allows evil to be done.
I said as much when I wrote: “You have every right to speak your mind and work for the healing and renewal of the Church if your bishop fails to teach and uphold the Catholic faith. Indeed, it is not just your right, it is your duty.”
However, if I may say so, I wrote the rest of the piece precisely to head off the sort of over-reaction that characterizes your complaint. A bishop's authority does not depend on his personal holiness or orthodoxy. When the bishop is not contradicting the Tradition, he is to be obeyed.
He could be the worst bishop in the world, but when he teaches the creed or celebrates the sacraments or ordains a priest, it is still valid and he is still to be heeded and obeyed. To say otherwise is the heresy of Donatism.
Fight all you like for the teaching of the Church and labor to have good catechesis done, despite the best efforts of some numbskull bishop to thwart it. Do so with my blessing. But when that numbskull teaches the Creed or offers the Mass, receive it from the hand of Christ, for that is who gives it, not the fallible man who stands as an alter Christus.
Mark Shea
Senior Content Editor
Catholic Exchange
Editor's Note: To submit a faith question to Catholic Exchange, email href=”mailto:faithquestions@catholicexchange.com”>faithquestions@catholicexchange.com. Please note that all email submitted to Catholic Exchange becomes the property of Catholic Exchange and may be published in this space. Published letters may be edited for length and clarity. Names and cities of letter writers may also be published. Email addresses of viewers will not normally be published.
